2015: Three in Five Bulgarian Households Have Internet at Home

The number of Bulgarian households with access to the Internet at home has increased, reaching nearly 60% in 2015, a new survey has shown.   

A survey conducted by Bulgaria's statistical office NSI among 9,011 individuals aged 16 - 74 showed that 59.1% of 4,085 interviewed households had access to the Internet at home this year, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared to 2014.

The share of households using broadband internet connection has increased by 2.3 percentage points, reaching 58.8% of all households.

The survey on Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals was conducted in all EU member states according to a common methodology ensuring international comparability of the results, the NSI said on its website.

In 2015, 54.6% of the polled individuals aged 16 - 74 years used the Internet every day or at least once a week, an increase of 0.9 percentage points over 2014. Conversely, the share of people in the same age bracket who have never used the Internet has decreased - from 37.1% in 2014 to 34.7% in 2015.

The share of people using the global network for interaction with central and local government authorities in Bulgaria has remained below 20%, the survey showed.

In 2015, 16% of interviewed individuals said they used the Internet to receive information from the websites of public administration bodies, 12.9% downloaded forms from the websites of public administration and 9.1% sent back completed forms over the past 12 months.